Ron Hodges spent a dozen years with the Mets, but most of them were spent on the bench.
Most Mets fans know that Ed Kranepool played 18 seasons in New York, spending his entire major league career in a Mets uniform. But only one other player spent as many as a dozen seasons with the Mets without ever wearing another big league uniform. And that player spent more time on the bench than he did on the field. It seems like there was always someone in front of him on the depth chart, but that doesn't mean he wasn't one of the more valuable players on the team.
Ron Hodges was a Met from 1973 to 1984, beginning his career on the "Ya Gotta Believe" Mets and playing his final game just as the Mets started to believe in contention once again. During his first three seasons in New York, Hodges served as Jerry Grote's backup. Once Grote was supplanted behind the plate, John Stearns became the team's No. 1 catcher.
The late '70s and early '80s saw Stearns and Alex Treviño splitting time as the team's catcher, with Hodges serving as the club's third option. Finally, once injuries took Stearns out of the picture and a blockbuster trade for slugger George Foster removed Treviño from the equation, Hodges became the Mets' starting catcher in 1983.
Hodges' 11th year in the majors produced his first season with 300 or more plate appearances. But by then, Hodges was 34 years old and wasn't nearly as mobile behind the plate or as productive with the bat (0 HR, 21 RBI) as he was as a part-timer from 1973 to 1982. Rookie Mike Fitzgerald took over the gig behind the plate in 1984, relegating Hodges to the bench and eventually his release following the '84 season.
Ron Hodges didn't play much in his twelve seasons as a Met, but he did endear himself to fans with his patience at the plate and his grittiness behind it. Despite a .240 career batting average, Hodges reached base at a .342 clip, making him one of just four players in Mets history to have an on-base percentage at least 100 points higher than his batting average. The others are Wayne Garrett (.237 BA, .348 OBP), John Olerud (.315 BA, .425 OBP) and Robin Ventura (.260 BA, .360 OBP).
In addition to being half of the "my career OBP is 100 points higher than my lifetime batting average" club, Garrett and Hodges were also instrumental in one of the most pivotal defensive plays in club annals. On September 20, 1973, with the Mets needing a win over the first place Pirates to move to within half a game of the division lead, the two teams squared off in an extra-inning affair at Shea Stadium. Garrett started the game at third base, while Hodges began the game on the bench. But in the tenth inning, manager Yogi Berra inserted Hodges into the game and moved Garrett from third to short. Three innings later, with Richie Zisk on first, Bucs' rookie Dave Augustine lifted a long fly ball to left field that just missed being a crushing two-run homer by inches. Instead, it bounced high off the wall into Cleon Jones' glove. As the Mets' shortstop, Garrett cut off Jones' throw to the infield and fired a strike to Hodges, who tagged out Zisk to prevent the Pirates from taking the lead. Hodges' tag saved the game (and perhaps the season) in the top of the 13th inning, just minutes before his run-scoring single gave the Mets a thrilling extra-inning victory. True to his title as backup catcher, Hodges remained on the bench for the rest of the 1973 season, with Jerry Grote starting every game during the Mets' amazing run to the NL East title.
Hodges was the Mets' elder statesman of the backup catching crew, but there have been some others who have been produced some memorable moments. Below are five of the backup catchers whose names became part of Mets lore.
Duffy Dyer
After a one-game tryout with the Mets in 1968, Duffy Dyer was the Mets' third-string catcher in 1969. But back-to-back doubleheaders in mid-August created the need for just the second start by Dyer on the season. Dyer capitalized on the rare opportunity, hitting a three-run homer to turn a 2-0 deficit against the San Diego Padres into a 3-2 lead, which was also the final score. The Mets were nine games behind the first place Cubs entering the game. They were eight games out after Dyer's well-timed blast led the Mets to victory, a win that began a stretch in which New York won 36 of 46 games to overtake Chicago.
Dyer played with the Mets until 1974, but like Hodges, he was only the team's No. 1 catcher in one season (1972). Dyer was a member of two pennant-winning teams, but never caught a game in the Fall Classic. His sole postseason appearance in a Mets uniform came as a pinch-hitter in Game 1 of the 1969 World Series, grounding out for starting pitcher Tom Seaver. Dyer batted .219 in 375 games as a Met, but had his brightest moment as a Met very early in his career. That bright moment helped steer his teammates toward their improbable first World Series championship.
Mackey Sasser
Just prior to the beginning of the 1988 season, Mackey Sasser was traded by the Pittsburgh Pirates to the Mets. Sasser played five seasons in New York, beginning his career with the Mets backing up future Hall of Famer Gary Carter and ending it as the No. 2 guy behind the team's soon-to-be single-season home run leader Todd Hundley. In between Carter and Hundley, Sasser was the team's No. 1 catcher for one year. And in that one-year opportunity, Sasser did something with the bat that no Mets catcher had done before him and only two Mets catchers have done since.
In 1990, Sasser played 100 games for the Mets, finishing the year with a .307 batting average. In doing so, Sasser became the first catcher in team history to bat over .300 in a year in which he played more than half the team's games behind the plate. (Since then, only Mike Piazza and Paul Lo Duca have been able to duplicate Sasser's feat.) But Sasser's infamous inability to throw the ball back to the pitcher without double and triple pumping caused the Mets to look past his productive bat and look forward to Hundley as the team's top catcher. Rick Cerone and Charlie O'Brien split catching duties in 1991, and Hundley took over the job in 1992. Sasser finished his Mets career with a .283 batting average in 420 games.
Todd Pratt
If starting catcher duties were determined by overexuberance, then Todd Pratt would have had a steady job for his entire career. Pratt was a Met from 1997 to 2001, never collecting more than 160 at-bats in any of his five seasons with the team. But he was always the first player to celebrate a key hit produced by one of his teammates. Pratt's premature celebration in Game 5 of the 1999 NLCS caused Robin Ventura's game-ending drive over the right field wall to forever be known as the Grand Slam Single. And who can forget Pratt jumping for joy outside the Mets dugout on June 30, 2000 after Mike Piazza's three-run homer capped a miraculous ten-run inning against the Braves? But Pratt's biggest moment as a Met allowed his teammates to celebrate one of his titanic blasts.
With Piazza sidelined with a thumb injury, Pratt temporarily took over starting duties for the Mets as the 1999 NLDS returned to Shea Stadium for Game 3. With New York needing one win to wrap up its first postseason series victory in 11 years, Pratt stepped up to the plate with one out in the bottom of the tenth inning in a 3-3 tie. Arizona had their closer, Matt Mantei, on the mound when Pratt lofted a high fly ball to straightaway center field, 410 feet from home plate. But Gold Glove center fielder Steve Finley mistimed his jump, allowing Pratt's blast to clear the wall just over Finley's glove. The homer gave the Mets a 4-3 win and a date with the Atlanta Braves in the League Championship Series. To this day, it remains the only postseason series-ending home run hit by a Met in team history. And it was by far, the most memorable of the 18 home runs hit by Pratt in his five-year career in Flushing.
Ramon Castro
Ramon Castro was never the team's top catcher in his four-and-a-half years with the Mets. In his first year with the team in 2005, he was the backup catcher to all-time team legend Mike Piazza. He then backed up Paul Lo Duca in 2006 and 2007, and was Brian Schneider's caddy in 2008 and 2009. Castro had a powerful bat, and it was that bat that provided his two biggest moments as a Met. Neither moment helped the Mets make the playoffs, but both blasts did give fans hope that the team would be playing in October. Of course, one of those long fly balls didn't exactly leave the park.
On August 30, 2005, with the Mets competing for a wild card spot after three consecutive losing seasons, New York welcomed wild card leader Philadelphia to Shea Stadium for the first game of a critical three-game series. The Mets trailed the Phillies by a game and a half entering the series opener, and trailed them, 4-3, going to the bottom of the eighth inning. But Castro's three-run homer off Ugueth Urbina gave the Mets a 6-4 lead, and allowed the Mets to pull to within half a game of the wild card lead. The Mets failed to make the playoffs in 2005, just as they failed in 2007. But Castro did everything he could to try to push the Mets toward October in the latter year. New York was down by a touchdown after Tom Glavine allowed seven first-inning runs to the Florida Marlins, but the Mets scored a run in the bottom of the first and loaded the bases with two outs for Ramon Castro. A grand slam would have cut Florida's lead to 7-5, and Castro almost granted Mets fans with their wish, but his deep fly ball off Dontrelle Willis settled into the glove of left fielder Cody Ross just shy of the left field wall. Castro hit 33 home runs in nearly five years as a backup catcher for the Mets. The team's history might have been very different had he hit 34.
Omir Santos
Here's the only backup catcher of the five that technically wasn't a backup. Omir Santos was a Met for just one season (2009), but because of an April injury to starting catcher Brian Schneider, Santos was afforded the opportunity to catch for the Mets. With Schneider out, Santos was supposed to split his playing time with Ramon Castro. Instead, he parlayed one memorable moment into becoming Schneider's backup, causing Castro to become expendable after nearly five years with the team.
In the month following Schneider's injury, neither Castro nor Santos started more than four consecutive games for the Mets. On May 23, when the Mets visited Fenway Park to take on the Boston Red Sox, it was Santos' turn behind the plate. The Mets were trailing by a run going into the ninth inning and were down to their last out when Santos hit a two-run homer off Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon, or so he thought. Originally, the umpires ruled that the ball hit off the top of the Green Monster and came back into play, forcing Santos to settle for a long double. But after further review, the ball was correctly ruled to be a home run, giving the Mets a 3-2 lead, which the bullpen held on to after the Mets infield made several stellar defensive plays in the bottom of the ninth. A week after Santos' heroics, Castro was traded to the Chicago White Sox. Once Schneider returned from the disabled list, the right-handed hitting Santos became part of a catching platoon with the lefty-swinging Schneider. Santos ended up leading all Mets catchers in games played in 2009, but he was never the No. 1 guy behind the plate in his only year with the team, a year in which he produced 22 extra-base hits and 40 RBI in just 281 at-bats. Of course, one of those extra-base hits and two of those RBI were slightly more memorable than the others.
A big tip of my Mets cap goes out to Mike Geraghty, who suggested the idea for this piece in honor of long-time Mets backup catcher Ron Hodges, as today is Hodges' 65th birthday. If you haven't done so yet, you can follow Mike on Twitter at @IguanaFlats. You'll be glad you did.
Some players aren't pegged to be stars by the teams that employ them, even as they're coming up through their minor league system. Edgardo Alfonzo was never expected to become the player he turned into as a member of the Mets. He's now considered to be one of the most underrated and beloved Mets of all-time, as evidenced by his selection as the greatest second baseman in the history of the franchise.
It took Alfonzo a few years to become an All-Star caliber player in the major leagues, but at least the Mets gave him a chance to become that player. The Mets gave the kid from Venezuela his first shot at the big league level four years after they drafted him in 1991. One of Alfonzo's fellow countrymen waited a bit longer to make his big league debut with the Mets after toiling in the minor leagues for the better part of a decade. He was never considered to be a top prospect at any minor league level, but gradually moved up the minor league chain until he made his debut with the Mets in 1999. One year later, he was gone.
Trying to find a short-term solution, general manager Steve Phillips created a long-term problem when he traded away Melvin Mora to the Baltimore Orioles for fill-in shortstop Mike Bordick. Although the Mets didn't know it at the time, they were letting go of a player whose offensive numbers would rival and eventually surpass those put up by fellow Venezuelan and former teammate Edgardo Alfonzo. The trade marked the unofficial beginning of the downfall of Phillips as the team's GM, which was followed soon after by the regression of the team in the NL East standings.
Melvin Mora, before he was a Met that got away.
Melvin Mora was originally drafted as a 19-year-old by the Houston Astros in 1991. Mora made his professional debut with the Gulf Coast League Astros in 1992, hitting .222 with only three extra-base hits in 144 at-bats. Mora did not have much power as a young minor leaguer, managing only 23 home runs in six seasons with various Astros' farm teams. He did, however, possess good speed, stealing 83 bases in 126 attempts from 1992 to 1995. But in 1996, Mora only stole seven bases in 19 attempts between the Double-A and Triple-A level. One year later, he once again managed only seven stolen bases, but saw his batting average drop from .284 to .257. He also saw a drop in what little power he had picked up over the years, falling from eight homers in 1996 to two homers in 1997.
After six years in the Astros' organization (and a stint in the Chinese Professional Baseball League), Mora was granted free agency. Halfway through the 1998 season, Mora contacted Edgardo Alfonzo's brother, Edgar, who was a coach with the Mets' Class A affiliate in St. Lucie. Not wanting to go back to Taiwan, Mora accepted a job as a utility player and spent the rest of the year in St. Lucie and AAA-Norfolk. In 28 games, Mora's numbers resembled the ones he put up during his first professional season in 1992, as he batted .241 with only one extra-base hit in 96 plate appearances. Once again, Mora was granted free agency, but after receiving no offers from other teams, Mora re-signed with the Mets in February 1999.
Eight years after signing his first professional contract with the Astros, Mora was invited to spring training with the Mets, hoping to make the team. He responded by putting up fantastic Grapefruit League numbers, batting nearly .400 and providing extra-base hit after extra-base hit. He also showed off the versatility he acquired at St. Lucie by playing six different defensive positions. Mora didn't make the team out of spring training, as the final roster spot was given to Mike Kinkade. Upon hearing the news, a clearly disappointed Mora was quoted as saying "I feel like I want to go to a bridge and jump off."
Mora was sent back to Norfolk, where he performed brilliantly. While Mora was flourishing at Triple-A, Kinkade was languishing in his role as one of the Mets' top utility players. Through May 20, Kinkade could only manage a .196 batting average. He also had three times as many strikeouts as walks and was downright dreadful as a sub, batting .125 in 19 games. Kinkade's failures as a Met led to his demotion to Norfolk and finally gave Mora the long-awaited break he needed to reach the majors for the first time.
On May 30, 1999, Mora played in his first game with the Mets, starting at shortstop against the Arizona Diamondbacks. However, he was given the unenviable task of facing perennial All-Star Randy Johnson, who was in the middle of a Cy Young Award-winning campaign. Naturally, Mora went 0-for-3 against Johnson, but was not one of the Big Unit's ten strikeout victims in the Mets' 10-1 loss to the Diamondbacks. The loss was the third in a row for the Mets, a skein that reached eight consecutive losses before Phillips cleaned house by firing most of the Mets' coaching staff. The Mets' bench was now full of new coaches for Mora to learn from. Mora would get plenty of opportunities to get that education as he didn't start another game for the Mets until July 17.
More spent the month of June and the first two weeks of July as a late-inning defensive replacement and pinch-hitter. Through his first 19 games in the big leagues, Mora had only collected 13 at-bats and was still looking for his first big league hit. On July 6, more than five weeks after playing in his first game with the Mets, Mora finally collected his first hit as a major leaguer. With the Mets already blowing out the Montreal Expos, Mora pinch-hit for third baseman Robin Ventura, delivering a single off future Met pitcher Miguel Batista.
Mora would continue to play sparingly for the Mets after July 6. Through August 1, Mora had played in 38 games for the Mets, but had only started three of them. The extended stays on the bench caused Mora's bat to suffer, as he was hitting an anemic .083 (2-for-24) through the first of August. Mora spent the next month of the season at AAA-Norfolk, where he once again began to pound the baseball. Combined with the numbers he put up at Norfolk prior to his first call-up to the Mets, Mora hit .303 with 17 doubles, eight home runs and 18 stolen bases for the Tides in only 82 games. He also reached base at a .393 clip and continued to play various positions while getting the regular playing time he was denied at the major league level.
When the rosters expanded on September 1, Mora was once again promoted to the parent squad to serve as a late-inning defensive replacement and pinch-hitter. Mora only had six official at-bats from September 1 to October 2, collecting two hits during that stretch. Mora had played in 64 of the team's first 161 games, collecting only four hits and scoring five runs as the forgotten man on the roster. But when he collected his fifth hit and scored his sixth run, everyone knew who Melvin Mora was.
On October 3, 1999, the Mets went into their 162nd game of the season deadlocked with the Cincinnati Reds in the National League wild card race. After finding themselves two games off the pace entering their season-ending three-game series with the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Mets took the first two games against the Bucs while the Reds dropped their first two games against the Milwaukee Brewers. The Mets needed to win the series finale to guarantee themselves of at least one more game. After a relatively easy 7-0 win over the Pirates in the middle game of the series, the Mets found themselves in a taut, tension-filled game in Game No. 162. Future Met Kris Benson and former Met killer Orel Hershiser were locked up in a pitcher's duel at Shea Stadium, with each pitcher allowing one run. The game remained tied as the Mets came up with a chance to win it in the bottom of the ninth.
Bobby Bonilla, who had been booed for much of his two stints with the Mets, was greeted with cheers when he was announced as a pinch-hitter for Shane Halter leading off the ninth. Four pitches later, those rare cheers morphed back into the more customary boos, as Bonilla grounded out to first.
That brought up Melvin Mora, who had entered the game in the seventh inning as a pinch-runner for all-time stolen base king Rickey Henderson. On a 1-0 pitch, Mora lined an opposite field single to right field off reliever Greg Hansell. Mora then advanced to third base on a single to right by Edgardo Alfonzo. After intentionally walking John Olerud to set up a force out at any base, Hansell was relieved by former Met Brad Clontz. With Mike Piazza now standing at the plate and Mora standing 90 feet away from extending the Mets season, Clontz uncorked a wild pitch that bounced up into the netting behind home plate, allowing Mora to scamper home with the winning run and whipping the Shea Stadium crowd (myself included) into a joyous frenzy.
After defeating Cincinnati in a one-game playoff the following day (Cincinnati had defeated Milwaukee in their 162nd game to force Game No. 163), the Mets advanced to the postseason for the first time in 11 years. Despite only having a .161 average in 31 big league at-bats, Mora had proven himself to be a valuable commodity to the Mets. Six months after being the final man cut by the team after spring training, Mora did not find himself on the outside looking in when the postseason rosters were set. He was joining his teammates in Arizona for their National League Division Series matchup against the Diamondbacks.
Just as he had done in his major league debut in May, Mora's first postseason at-bat came against Randy Johnson. Mora had been inserted into the lineup via a double switch in the sixth inning by manager Bobby Valentine and came up to the plate to face Johnson in a tie game in the seventh. Mora did not contribute to a potential go-ahead rally in that at-bat, grounding out to third. But he was a major contributor to a go-ahead rally the next time he faced Johnson.
The game was still tied at 4 when the Mets came up to bat against Johnson in the top of the ninth. Robin Ventura led off the inning with only the tenth hit by a left-handed batter off Johnson all year. Roger Cedeño tried to sacrifice Ventura to second but popped out to Johnson for the first out. Light-hitting shortstop Rey Ordoñez then pulled a single to left, advancing Ventura to second base.
Up stepped Melvin Mora, who had never struck out against Johnson in four previous at-bats, but had also never reached base against him. A double play could have gotten Johnson out of the inning. Instead, Mora drew a walk off the tiring southpaw, loading the bases and sending Johnson to the showers and Bobby Chouinard into the game to face Rickey Henderson. After Henderson hit into a force play, with Ventura being thrown out at home, Edgardo Alfonzo launched a grand slam down the left field line, scoring Ordoñez, Mora and Henderson to give the Mets an 8-4 lead, a lead they would hold on to for a Game 1 victory.
Mora would not collect an official at-bat for the rest of the series,
coming into Games 3 and 4 as a late-inning defensive replacement, but his walk off Randy Johnson in
Game 1 helped set up what might have been the turning point of the
series. By winning Game 1, as well as taking Games 3 and 4 at Shea Stadium, the Mets did not have to face Randy Johnson in the series again. Once Todd Pratt blasted a series-ending home run off closer Matt Mantei, the Mets advanced to face the division rival Atlanta Braves in the National League Championship Series. The Mets fell short in their quest to reach the World Series, but Melvin Mora did everything he could to get them as close as possible to the pennant.
Edgardo Alfonzo's grand slam might not have been possible without Melvin Mora's key walk against Randy Johnson.
After playing in three of the four division series games, but collecting only one official at-bat, Mora was given an increased role in the NLCS against the Braves. But he needed the removal of Rickey Henderson in Game 2 to prove that he could be productive in a role other than designated double switch player.
After Henderson ran gingerly to first base on a groundout in the second inning, he was replaced in the lineup by Mora, who promptly blasted a home run - his first in the majors - in his first at-bat following Henderson's removal. Mora's homer extended the Mets' lead to 2-0, a lead they held until Kenny Rogers allowed a game-tying two-run homer to Brian Jordan and a go-ahead two-run homer to Eddie Perez in the bottom of the sixth. Mora did his best to start a rally for the Mets in the eighth inning, reaching base on an error and scoring all the way from first on a double by Edgardo Alfonzo. Mora's 270-foot-dash cut Atlanta's lead to a single run, but the Mets failed to produce the tying run after Alfonzo's two-bagger and went down in order in the ninth. The Mets lost the game, 4-3, to fall behind the Braves in the NLCS, two games to none.
Mora got his first postseason start in Game 3 at Shea Stadium and got into the action quickly, although this time it wasn't with his bat. In the top of the first, the Braves pushed across an unearned run against Mets starter Al Leiter. After a leadoff walk to Gerald Williams, Leiter allowed Bret Boone to reach on an error. A second error, this time on a throw by catcher Mike Piazza on an attempted double steal, allowed Williams to score and Boone to move to third base. But with the Braves threatening to score more, Melvin Mora caught a fly ball by Brian Jordan and threw Boone out at the plate, keeping the score 1-0.
At the plate, Mora also contributed, collecting hits in each of his first two at-bats against Braves starter Tom Glavine. But Mora's first career multi-hit game was not enough, as Glavine devastated the Mets with seven shutout innings. The bullpen did the rest, as the lone run scored by the Braves in the first held up. Atlanta won the game, 1-0, to put the Mets one game away from elimination. But Mora would not let the Mets go down without a fight.
Rick Reed started Game 4 for the Mets and was absolutely brilliant through seven innings, facing the minimum 21 batters through seven innings. The only baserunner he allowed - Bret Boone, who singled in the fourth inning - was erased on a failed stolen base attempt. The Mets had taken a 1-0 lead on a solo homer by John Olerud and were six outs away from ending the Braves' chances of a sweep. But before you could say Chief Noc-A-Homa, Brian Jordan and Ryan Klesko blasted back-to-back home runs off Reed, quickly turning one of the greatest pitching performances by a Met into a 2-1 deficit. Melvin Mora got a good view of both home runs, as he had just been inserted into the game as a defensive replacement for Rickey Henderson. The Braves didn't score again in the inning, but were now in position to close out the series. All they needed were six outs.
Roger Cedeño led off the bottom of the eighth with a single, but was still standing on first after Rey Ordoñez popped up a bunt attempt and Benny Agbayani struck out. Up stepped Melvin Mora, who needed to get on base to continue the rally. After a stolen base by Cedeño, Mora worked out a walk to bring up John Olerud. Braves manager Bobby Cox replaced reliever Mike Remlinger with Public Enemy No. 1, John Rocker, who watched helplessly as Cedeño and Mora pulled off a daring double steal. Olerud followed the timely steals with a two-run single, plating Cedeño and Mora to give the Mets a 3-2 lead.
Roger Cedeño and Melvin Mora celebrate at the plate, allowing John Rocker to ponder what time the next 7 train arrives.
The Mets held on to the lead in the ninth and avoided the sweep, needing to win one more game to send the series back to Atlanta. They would get that win in Game 5, and once again, Melvin Mora was an unlikely contributor.
Game 5 of the 1999 National League Championship Series was an all-time classic. Both teams scored early, with Olerud providing a two-run homer off Greg Maddux to give the Mets a first inning lead, only to have Masato Yoshii give it back in the fourth on an RBI double by Chipper Jones and a run-scoring single by Brian Jordan. The game was still tied, 2-2, when the Braves came up to bat in the top of the thirteenth inning.
After using eight pitchers through the first twelve innings, the Mets were down to their final relief pitcher to start the 13th. Rookie Octavio Dotel was the only non-starter left for the Mets and was sent to the mound to face the Braves. Dotel had made only one appearance for the Mets in the postseason and fared miserably in Game 2 of the NLDS, allowing a double, two walks and a hit batsman in one-third of an inning against Arizona. Now he was being called upon to save the Mets season after not having pitched in 11 days. He might not have been able to do so without the help of Melvin Mora.
Dotel retired the first two batters he faced in the 13th inning, striking out pinch-hitter Jorge Fabregas and retiring Gerald Williams on a grounder to short. If he could retire Keith Lockhart, he would avoid facing eventual league MVP Chipper Jones with the go-ahead run on base. But Dotel couldn't retire the side in order, allowing Lockhart to reach him for a single. Up stepped the man who was constantly reminded of his given first name by Mets fans at Shea Stadium. But this time, the name on everyone's mind would be Melvin Mora. Jones laced a double down the right field line, which was picked up by a hustling Mora near the right field corner. Mora threw the ball to cut-off man Edgardo Alfonzo, who fired a quick throw to catcher Mike Piazza, nailing Lockhart at the plate by about 20 feet. Mora's defensive effort took Dotel off the hook and sent the game on into the rain-soaked night.
The Mets did not score in their half of the 13th and neither team scored in the 14th inning. Dotel was still on the hill in the 15th, facing the light-hitting part of the Braves' lineup. But Walt Weiss led off the inning with a single and then surprised everyone by stealing second. (Weiss stole only seven bases during the regular season and was never a big base-stealer during his 14-year major league career.) Weiss was still on second base when Dotel retired Gerald Williams on a fly ball to left. But Keith Lockhart, who was denied the opportunity to score the go-ahead run two innings earlier, delivered an RBI triple, scoring Weiss to give the Braves a 4-3 lead.
In the bottom of the 15th, the Mets refused to give in to exhaustion. They rallied against Kevin McGlinchy, tying the game on a single and stolen base by Shawon Dunston, a walk to Matt Franco, a sacrifice by Edgardo Alfonzo, an intentional walk to John Olerud and an unintentional walk to Todd Pratt. With Melvin Mora waiting on deck and pinch-runner Roger Cedeño standing 90 feet away from a hard-fought Mets victory, Robin Ventura delivered the now-famous Grand Slam Single, giving the Mets their second consecutive victory in their final turn at bat.
Although Mora went 1-for-6 in the 15-inning thriller, his defensive play in the 13th inning kept the season alive for the Mets and allowed Ventura to come through with his titanic blast two innings later. The series moved on to Atlanta for Game 6. Mora did not start the game, but provided a spark off the bench, and it almost led to another thrilling Mets victory.
The Mets fell behind early to the Braves as Al Leiter allowed five runs in the first inning without retiring a single batter. Despite the quick punch to the gut, the Mets did not stop fighting. First, they cut the Braves' lead to 5-3. Then, after the Braves added two insurance runs in the sixth, the Mets tied the game at 7-7 in the seventh, using a home run by Mike Piazza to knot the score. One inning later, Benny Agbayani led off with a single off reliever Mike Remlinger. After Agbayani advanced to second on a sacrfice bunt by Rey Ordoñez, Melvin Mora was called upon to pinch-hit for pitcher Orel Hershiser. Just three games earlier, Mora drew a crucial walk off Remlinger in the eighth inning to set up the go-ahead run. This time, Mora took it upon himself to supply the go-ahead run in the eighth off Remlinger, delivering an RBI single to give the Mets an 8-7 lead. Unfortunately, that lead was short-lived, as John Franco allowed the Braves to tie the game in the bottom of the eighth. The game went on to extra innings, where once again Mora was in the middle of a run-scoring rally.
With John Rocker entering his second inning of work after a 1-2-3 ninth, the Mets pounced on the reliever. Benny Agbayani drew a leadoff walk to get things started in the tenth. Two batters later, Rocker attempted to pick off Agbayani and would have been successful had it not been for a miscue by first baseman Brian Hunter. (Ironically, it was Hunter who had tied the game two innings earlier with an RBI single off John Franco.) With the Mets getting unexpected help on Hunter's error, Mora came up and delivered a single that moved Agbayani to third. Agbayani came around to score on Todd Pratt's sacrifice fly to give the Mets a 9-8 lead. Mora then stole third, but was stranded there when Edgardo Alfonzo went down on a rare strikeout. Mora's insurance run would have been the difference had he scored, especially after the Braves tied the game on an RBI single by Ozzie Guillen in the bottom of the tenth. Unfortunately, Mora never got a chance to play postseason hero again, as the Mets walked off a loser when Kenny Rogers threw ball four to Andruw Jones in the 11th.
Although the Mets lost the NLCS to the Braves in six games, Melvin Mora did everything he could to extend the series. After collecting just five hits in 66 regular season games, Mora picked up six hits in the NLCS, batting .429 with a home run, two runs batted in, three runs scored and two stolen bases. He reached base in half of his 16 plate appearances and also began two plays in the outfield that resulted in runners being thrown out at the plate. Despite the sad ending to the 1999 campaign, the future looked bright for Mora and the Mets. But little did Mora know how short that Mets future would be.
Melvin Mora glided his way into Mets fans hearts in 1999, but he was skating on thin ice in the summer of 2000.
For the first time since signing his first professional contract in 1991, Melvin Mora began a season on a major league roster, accompanying the Mets on their season-opening trip to Tokyo to face the Chicago Cubs. Mora still didn't have a regular defensive position, but was getting more at-bats than he did in 1999. Mora played in 31 of the team's first 37 games, starting ten of them. But he was only batting .245 with four extra-base hits in those 31 games, although one of those extra-base hits was a walk-off home run off Milwaukee's Curt Leskanic on April 20 - the first regular season home run of Mora's career. After a 1-for-3 performance against the Marlins on May 12, Mora was sent back to AAA-Norfolk to get some regular at-bats. Less than three weeks later, he would be getting regular at-bats at the major league level, but at the expense of a key member of the team.
On May 29, three-time Gold Glove winner Rey Ordoñez fractured his left forearm while attempting to tag the Dodgers' F.P. Santangelo. Ordoñez would be lost for the season. The Mets immediately recalled Mora from Norfolk and inserted him into the lineup the next day. Mora reached base four times against the Dodgers on May 30, scoring three times and driving in a run. Over the next month, Mora was unstoppable at the plate, batting .338 with seven doubles, three homers, 12 RBIs, 20 runs scored and five stolen bases.
By late June, Mora had taken over the everyday job at shortstop, even though general manager Steve Phillips was still looking for a veteran with better defensive skills to play the position. Phillips was considering Rich Aurilia and Mike Bordick in a potential trade, as well as perennial All-Star and former NL MVP Barry Larkin. But with Mora hitting and the Mets winning, it appeared as if Mora would be able to keep the job in Ordoñez's absence. But everything changed once the Mets stopped winning.
After defeating the Braves on July 1, the Mets were tied with the Braves in the loss column. But the Mets then lost 12 of their next 19 games, and after dropping two out of three in Atlanta from July 21-23, found themselves six games out of first. Part of the problem was Melvin Mora, who hit .194 over the 19-game stretch and reached base at a .243 clip. Mora would go on to play two more games with the Mets before Phillips had seen enough. The slump in the win column, as well as Mora's slump at the plate, caused Phillips to pull the trigger on a deal with the Orioles, sending Mora to Baltimore for All-Star shortstop Mike Bordick. (The Mets also sent Pat Gorman, Leslie Brea and Mike Kinkade to Baltimore in the deal - the same Mike Kinkade who almost caused Mora to jump off a bridge in 1999 after he made the team out of spring training and Mora didn't.)
Things were looking up for the Mets after the Mike Bordick trade. No, wait. That was just Mike Bordick looking up. My bad.
At the time of the trade, Bordick was three weeks removed from playing in his first All-Star Game. He had also already established a career high with 16 HR and was on his way to a career high in RBIs. Mora, on the other hand, was hitting .260 with six HR and 30 RBI in 215 at-bats with the Mets. On paper, it appeared to be a good deal. After one at-bat, it looked even better, as Bordick hit a home run to endear himself to the fans for all of one game. Bordick went 2-for-3 in his Mets debut and continued to do fairly well over the next three weeks, batting .311 with four homers. But over his final 37 games, Bordick turned into Rey Ordoñez but without the flashy defense. From August 18 till season's end, Bordick hit .229 with no homers and 12 RBIs. The Mets would have loved to receive that production in the playoffs.
Bordick hit .167 (2-for-12) in the four-game NLDS against the Giants, then hit .077 (1-for-13) in the NLCS against the Cardinals, a series in which five of the other seven regulars hit over .300. Bordick continued his cold hitting in the World Series against the Yankees, batting .125 (2-for-16) over the first four games before being benched so that Kurt Abbott could start at shortstop in Game 5. In 14 postseason games, Bordick combined to hit .121 (4-for-33) with no extra-base hits and eight strikeouts. For his efforts, or lack of them, Bordick was not offered a contract to play for the Mets in 2001, instead choosing to return to Baltimore as a free agent.
As fate would have it, Bordick would only play 58 games for the Orioles in 2001, suffering a season-ending injury against the Mets on June 13. He played one more year in Baltimore in 2002, before finishing his career as a member of the Blue Jays in 2003. While Bordick's career was coming to a close, Mora's career was just taking off.
Mora's first full season in Baltimore had plenty of ups and downs. Mora finished the season with a .250 average, 28 doubles, 7 HR, 48 RBI, 11 SB and 5 NB (newborn babies), as his wife, Gisel, gave birth to quintuplets on July 28, 2001. He celebrated in 2002 by starting more games than he ever had in the past (145), albeit at five different positions. Mora started 63 games in left field, 36 games at shortstop, 31 games in center field, nine games at second base and three games in right field. He also started three games as Baltimore's designated hitter. Mora only hit .233 in 2002, but set career highs in hits (130), doubles (30), home runs (19), RBI (64), runs scored (86) and stolen bases (16).
Although Mora was limited to 96 games in 2003, he showed great improvement at the plate and was rewarded for his efforts by being selected to his first All-Star team. In his third full season as an Oriole, Mora hit .317 and reached base at a .418 clip, a figure that would have ranked third in the AL had he compiled enough at-bats. Compiling the necessary number of at-bats was not a problem for Mora in 2004.
Photo by Brad Mangin
In 2004, Mora took his game to a level no one could ever have expected. Mora finally had a position he could call his own, taking over as the Orioles' full-time third baseman after Tony Batista - an All-Star at the position for Baltimore in 2002 - left the Orioles to sign a free agent contract with the Montreal Expos. In 140 games as the team's new third baseman, Mora batted .340, finishing second to Ichiro Suzuki in the batting race (Ichiro set a major league record with 262 base hits in 2004). Mora did lead the league with his .419 on-base percentage and finished among the league leaders in hits (187), doubles (41), home runs (27), runs scored (111), RBI (104) and slugging percentage (.562). Mora's spectacular season earned him his first Silver Slugger Award and MVP consideration.
To put Mora's 2004 campaign into perspective, consider this. The Orioles franchise has been around since 1901, when they were playing as the Milwaukee Brewers. After one season in Milwaukee, they moved to St. Louis to become the Browns, where they played for 52 seasons. Since 1954, they have called Baltimore home. In over a century of existence, no player had ever had a season for the Orioles in which he hit at least .320, with 40 doubles, 25 HR, 100 RBI and 100 runs scored. Not Frank Robinson. Not Eddie Murray. Not even Cal Ripken. The only player to accomplish all of those numbers in the same season is Melvin Mora, the same man Steve Phillips traded away because he wanted to rent Mike Bordick for half a season. You're welcome, Baltimore.
Mora followed up his record-breaking season with another fine year in 2005, batting .283 with 30 doubles, 27 HR and 88 RBI. Although the numbers were a slight dropoff from his 2004 form, he still managed to secure his second All-Star selection in 2005, after being snubbed for the team during his historic 2004 campaign. Mora had two similar seasons in 2006 (.274, 25 doubles, 16 HR, 83 RBI, 96 runs scored, 11 SB) and 2007 (.274, 23 doubles, 14 HR, 58 RBI, 67 runs, 9 SB) before rebounding to give the Orioles one more great season in 2008 (.285, 29 doubles, 23 HR, 104 RBI, 77 runs scored) despite missing 27 games.
For the first time in nearly a decade with the Orioles, Mora had a subpar season in 2009, batting .260 with only eight home runs and 48 RBI in 125 games. Mora was granted free agency following the 2009 season, finishing out his career in 2010 with the Colorado Rockies and 2011 with the Arizona Diamondbacks. But before saying his final goodbyes to the big leagues, he gave the Mets one final reminder of what might have been on August 11, 2010, hitting a grand slam off Manny Acosta at Citi Field to turn a one-run Mets lead into a three-run deficit in the eighth inning.
"Oh, snap! Did I just give up a grand slam to Melvin Mora?"
Although no one would ever confuse Melvin Mora with the great hitters in Orioles history, Mora compares favorably with those greats on the team's all-time leaderboard. Since the team moved to Baltimore in 1954, Mora ranks in the team's top ten in games played (1,256; 10th in Orioles history), runs scored (709; 9th), hits (1,323; 10th), doubles (252; 8th), home runs (158; 9th), RBIs (662; 8th), walks (465; 10th) and total bases (2,073; 8th). Had Mora compiled those numbers as a Met, he'd be fourth in games played, third in runs scored, third in hits, second in doubles, fifth in home runs, third in RBIs, seventh in walks and second in total bases. In other words, he'd be one of the best Mets hitters of all-time.
In 1971, the Mets needed help in the infield and traded a player that was incomplete in their minds, along with three other players, for an All-Star shortstop. That incomplete player was Nolan Ryan and the All-Star shortstop was Jim Fregosi. Ryan went on to become a Hall of Famer and Fregosi went on to become the answer to a trivia question that Mets fans would rather not answer. Almost three decades later, the Mets once again needed help in the infield and traded away a player that had not performed well, along with three other players, for an All-Star shortstop. This time, it was Melvin Mora who became an All-Star on his new team, while the player the Mets got in return (Mike Bordick) did almost nothing before going back to his old team the following season.
Melvin Mora has no business being mentioned in the same sentence as Nolan Ryan. But like Ryan three decades before him, Mora is one of those Mets who never should have gotten away, but did. The Mets thought they were helping their team by trading away these raw, but talented players. They were wrong both times. And the record books for several other teams serve as a constant reminder of what the Mets could have had.
Note: The Mets That Got Away is a
thirteen-part weekly series that spotlights those Mets players who established themselves as major leaguers in New York, only to become stars after leaving town. For previous
installments, please click on the players' names below:
In 1997, the Chicago White Sox were standing only 3½ games behind the first place Cleveland Indians on the morning of July 31. However, with a 52-53 record, owner Jerry Reinsdorf felt they should be sellers instead of buyers at the trade deadline. Throwing up the proverbial white flag, the White Sox shocked the baseball world by dealing their top starting pitcher (Wilson Alvarez), their closer (Roberto Hernandez) and a veteran pitcher (Danny Darwin) to the San Francisco Giants for a bevy of minor leaguers.
The South Siders were also attempting to trade their starting third baseman, but no team was interested in acquiring a player who had suffered a gruesome leg injury in spring training that had kept him out of the lineup for the majority of the '97 season. As a result, the White Sox kept their third baseman until his contract expired following the 1998 season, allowing him to leave the team as a free agent.
Meanwhile, the Mets, who already had a third baseman in Edgardo Alfonzo, were interested in adding a little power to the hot corner. With the White Sox showing no interest in bringing back their long-time third baseman, the Mets jumped at the opportunity to sign him, moving Fonzie back to second base to accommodate their newest infielder. It took a four-year, $32 million contract to do it, but the Mets had finally wrangled themselves a power-hitting third baseman in Robin Ventura.
In 1999, Robin Ventura's sweet swing connected with baseballs and Mets' fandom alike.
Before coming to the media capital of the world, Robin Mark Ventura had already been in the media spotlight on a number of occasions. Sometimes the attention was positive (Ventura set an NCAA record at Oklahoma State University with his 58-game hitting streak in 1987) and sometimes he was getting a noogie from future Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan.
But one thing was for certain. Robin Ventura was a complete player. In ten years with the White Sox, Ventura had six seasons of 90 or more RBIs, surpassed 20 homers five times and hit over .280 in five different campaigns. He was also an outstanding defensive player, winning five Gold Gloves as a member of the White Sox. Although Edgardo Alfonzo was a good player at the time, he had never hit as many as 20 HR or collected as many as 80 RBIs. He had also never been rewarded with a Gold Glove Award in four years with the Mets. Robin Ventura had accomplished all of those feats prior to becoming a Met. And in 1999, he was on a mission to accomplish the trifecta again.
In his first year in New York, Robin Ventura wasted no time getting acquainted with National League pitching. The Mets' new third baseman hit .375 with five extra-base hits (three doubles, two homers) and 11 RBIs over his first ten games. His torrid start put him among the league leaders in RBIs and made him one of the few players in Mets' history to reach 20 RBIs in a season before the end of April. (In 1994, Jeff Kent set the franchise record for RBIs in April with 26.)
But once April turned into May, Ventura suffered his first slump as a Met and the team soon followed. After defeating the Astros on May 3, the Mets' record stood at 17-9. The team then went on to lose 19 of their next 28 games to fall below the .500 mark at 27-28. During the month-long meltdown, Ventura batted only .240, dropping his season average to .268. Although he still managed to hit eight doubles and five home runs during the 29-game stretch, he began to strike out more often, whiffing 27 times in 100 at-bats.
It was during this otherwise poor stretch that Ventura became the first player in major league history to hit grand slams in both ends of a doubleheader, as he accomplished the previously unprecedented feat against the Milwaukee Brewers at Shea Stadium on May 20. However, this display of clutch hitting was rare for the Mets in May, and for Ventura in particular. During the team's month-long slumber, Ventura only managed an additional three home runs and 13 RBIs on days when he wasn't hitting multiple grand slams. The end result of the team-wide slump was the firing of pitching coach Bob Apodaca, hitting coach Tom Robson and bullpen coach Randy Niemann in early June, which coincided with a season-long eight-game losing streak.
After the dismissal of Apodaca, Robson and Niemann, Valentine famously stated that if the team didn't do well over the next 55 games, then he should also be relieved of his managerial duties. Wanting to save his manager and the team's season, Robin Ventura went on a hitting tear, beginning with the Mets' 7-2 victory in the Subway Series finale against Roger Clemens and the Yankees. In that game, Ventura collected two hits and scored two runs off Clemens, as the Mets handed him his first regular season loss in over a year.
The victory over the Yankees put the Mets back on track, as they went on to go 40-15 over their next 55 games, saving Valentine his job. There were very few players in the National League as hot as Robin Ventura was over the two-month stretch. From June 6 to August 6, Ventura batted .337 with 11 doubles, 16 HR and 48 RBI. He also had a .405 on-base percentage and cut down on his strikeouts dramatically, fanning only 29 times in 223 plate appearances.
The Mets were finally cooled down with a loss to the Dodgers on August 7 (a game the Mets' third baseman didn't start), but Ventura's bat continued to smoke. From August 8 to September 6, Ventura batted .366, lashed 13 extra-base hits (eight doubles, five homers) and drove in 22 runs. On September 19, the Mets defeated the Philadelphia Phillies, 8-6, with Ventura driving in the game-tying run in the fifth inning. The win upped the Mets' record to 92-58 and left them one game behind the Atlanta Braves for the NL East lead. It also gave them a four-game lead over the Cincinnati Reds for the wild card, who had lost that day to the Pittsburgh Pirates. With 12 games to go in the regular season, the Mets weren't thinking of the wild card. They wanted to dethrone the Atlanta Braves, who had won eight consecutive division titles. But things have a tendency to change quickly in baseball, and over the final two weeks of the season, the Mets found out just how true that adage was.
The Mets had a seemingly comfortable lead in the wild card race with 12 games to go. But then the Mets embarked on a seven-game losing streak. At the same time, the Reds won seven out of eight games. With three games left in the regular season, the Braves had already clinched the division title and the Mets were now chasing the Reds and the Astros in the wild card race, as both teams were tied atop the National League Central division with identical 95-64 records. At 93-66, the Mets were two games out with three games to go. Their season was in jeopardy of ending prematurely for the second straight year. But with one swing of Robin Ventura's bat, the team began to believe in themselves again.
On October 1, the Mets began a three-game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates, basically needing to sweep the Bucs and hope for outside help to have any chance of winning the wild card. The Mets took an early 1-0 lead on Robin Ventura's 32nd homer. But the Pirates came back and tied the game, sending it into extra innings. After reliever Pat Mahomes escaped a two-on, one-out jam in the 10th inning, he retired the Bucs in order in the 11th. In the bottom of the 11th, the Mets put a runner on second base with one out. After an intentional walk to Edgardo Alfonzo and a groundout by John Olerud, the Pirates decided to walk Mike Piazza to load the bases for Ventura, hoping that southpaw reliever Scott Sauerbeck would retire the lefty-swinging Ventura to end the inning. The inning did end, but not the way the Pirates wanted, as Ventura lined Sauerbeck's second pitch to right-center for a game-winning single. As an added bonus, the Astros and Reds both lost to the Dodgers and Brewers, respectively. The Mets were now one game behind Houston and Cincinnati for the wild card, and Shea Stadium was ready for an epic final weekend.
Going into the season's penultimate game, the Mets already knew that the Astros had won and the Reds had lost. Houston was now leading the National League Central by a game over Cincinnati. The Reds' loss meant that the Mets were one win away from tying them for the wild card lead. Rick Reed was tabbed to start the game on October 2 and pitched the game of his life, striking out 12 Pirates and allowing no runs. However, Bucs' starter Francisco Cordova was matching Reed zero for zero throughout the first five innings. All that changed when the Mets came to bat in the sixth inning. The Mets needed some mojo risin' and they needed it fast. Up come Robin Ventura to provide the Mets with all the mojo they would need.
With two men on base, Ventura ripped a double down the right field line, plating the Mets' first run of the game. The Mets scored another run in the inning and added five insurance runs in the eighth inning en route to a 7-0 victory over the Pirates. The season had come down to Game No. 162, with the Mets and Reds tied for the wild card lead. Ventura went 1-for-4 in the series finale against the Pirates and was on deck when Mike Piazza watched Brad Clontz's wild pitch bounce over the backstop in the ninth inning, scoring Melvin Mora from third base with the winning run and setting off a wild celebration at home plate in front of the Shea faithful. Despite the thrilling ending, the Mets could not pop the champagne at home, as the Reds defeated the Brewers that night after a long rain delay, setting up a one-game playoff at Cinergy Field the following night.
Needing one victory to secure their first playoff berth in 11 years, the Mets got off to an early lead, compliments of Edgardo Alfonzo's two-run homer off Reds' starting pitcher Steve Parris. In the third inning, Robin Ventura collected his 120th RBI of the season, drawing a bases-loaded walk from reliever Denny Neagle to give the Mets a 3-0 lead. Ventura would reach base two more times in the game, but by then, Mets' starting pitcher Al Leiter had deflated the Reds' bubble, as the Mets went on to win the game and the National League wild card berth, advancing to the NLDS to play the NL West champion Arizona Diamondbacks.
Although Ventura hit only .214 against the Diamondbacks in the series, he found other ways to contribute. In Game 1, it was Ventura who led off the ninth inning with a single off Randy Johnson. What made the hit so incredible was the fact that Johnson had allowed a mere nine hits to left-handed batters over the entire 1999 regular season. Five batters later, Edgardo Alfonzo hit the go-ahead grand slam off reliever Bobby Chouinard to give the Mets an 8-4 lead, a lead that held up in the bottom of the ninth when Diamondbacks' shortstop Hanley Frias popped out to (you guessed it) Robin Ventura to end the game. The Mets split the next two games before winning Game 4 at home to take the series, with Ventura contributing a double and a walk in the deciding game. Despite his low batting average in the NLDS, Ventura reached base seven times (four walks, three hits) for a .389 on-base percentage.
In the NLCS, Ventura struggled at the plate, taking oh-fers in each of the first four games. Ventura didn't get off the schneid until the 11th inning of Game 5, when he singled for his first hit in 17 NLCS at-bats. Although that hit has long been forgotten, his next hit in the NLCS will always be remembered. Four innings after his 11th inning single, Ventura lashed another single, although this one carried over the right field wall. The famous Grand Slam Single gave the Mets a 4-3 victory and sent the team back to Georgia for a Game 6 showdown against the Braves.
Ain't life grand?
Unfortunately, the Mets could not force a seventh and deciding game in Atlanta, but Robin Ventura tried his best to get the Mets to Game 7. With the Mets down 5-0 in the sixth inning, Ventura was on deck when Mike Piazza hit a sacrifice fly to plate the Mets' first run. Ventura then doubled to right field off Braves' starter Kevin Millwood and scored on Darryl Hamilton's two-run single. The Mets had cut the Braves' lead to 5-3 and eventually sent the game into extra innings. But the magical run ended in the bottom of the 11th inning, when Kenny Rogers walked Andruw Jones with the bases loaded.
Despite hitting a combined .154 (6-for-39) during the Mets' ten-game postseason run in 1999, Robin Ventura provided some of the timeliest hits for the Mets against Arizona and Atlanta. Ventura was nothing but clutch for the Mets in 1999. For the season, he set career-highs in batting average (.301), slugging percentage (.529), on-base plus slugging (.908), hits (177), doubles (38) and RBIs (120). The Mets' third baseman also added 32 homers, scored 88 runs and won his sixth Gold Glove Award. (He also was prominently featured as part of Sports Illustrated "Best Infield Ever?" story.) For his efforts, Ventura finished sixth in the National League MVP vote, finishing just ahead of teammates Mike Piazza (7th) and Edgardo Alfonzo (8th).
The 2000 Mets were expected to build upon their success from 1999, with Robin Ventura being one of the key contributors. Although the team did well in 2000, winning their fourth National League pennant, Ventura did not perform as expected in his second season in New York. Ventura played in 85 of the team's first 87 games, but only batted .235 with 17 doubles, 16 HR and 53 RBIs. He was then placed on the disabled list with a bruised right rotator cuff and missed the next 14 games. Upon returning, he did even worse, batting .227 with six doubles, eight HR and 31 RBIs over his final 56 games. His final numbers in 2000 (.232, 23 doubles, 24 HR, 84 RBI, 61 runs scored in 141 games) were a far cry from what he produced in 1999. (In fact, Ventura's only positive contribution to the 2000 Mets might have been his one-man performance in Rain Delay Theatre at Yankee Stadium.) In the postseason, Ventura's batting average continued to suffer, as he hit .167 in 14 postseason games for the Mets in 2000. He also failed to reach base in any of his last nine plate appearances against the Yankees in the World Series.
Ventura's 2001 campaign was more of the same. Although his batting average went up slightly to .237 (still nowhere near the .301 average he produced in 1999), Ventura's power and run production continued to suffer. In 142 games, Ventura hit 20 doubles and 21 HR, but only collected 61 RBIs. He also struck out 101 times, which was only slightly lower than his hit total (108). The 108 hits represented a career-low for Ventura over a season in which he played at least 100 games. Unlike the 2000 season, in which the Mets made the playoffs despite Ventura's subpar campaign, the Mets barely finished above .500 in 2001. As a result, the Mets decided that they needed to shed their third baseman's high salary and move in a different direction. They did just that when they dealt Ventura to the Yankees for David Justice, who was then traded a week later to Oakland for pitchers Mark Guthrie and Tyler Yates.
Robin Ventura wasn't all about his bat. He may have been better with his glove.
Despite only having one outstanding season with the Mets, Robin Ventura is still a beloved figure in New York. He was an outstanding defensive third baseman during his three years in Flushing and provided many memorable moments for the team, although most of them came during their magical 1999 campaign. Ventura is now managing the Chicago White Sox, the team for which he played the majority of his professional career. But no matter what he does in Chicago, Ventura will always have 1999, a season that started out so innocently, but ended with a new Mets legend being born.
From his doubleheader grand salamis in May to his torrid two-month stretch in the summer of '99 to "The Best Infield Ever" to the Grand Slam Single, Robin Ventura was in the middle of many great moments during one of the most memorable seasons in Mets history. He may not have had the best Mets career, but for one season, he was in the center of it all. It's no wonder that that one season turned him into the Mets legend that he now is.
Note: One Season Wonders is a
thirteen-part weekly series spotlighting those Mets who had one and only one memorable season in New York. For previous
installments, please click on the players' names below: January 2, 2012: Bernard Gilkey January 9, 2012: Terry Leach January 16, 2012: George Stone January 23, 2012: Roger Cedeño January 30, 2012: Frank Viola February 6, 2012: Joe Christopher February 13, 2012: Dave Magadan February 20, 2012: Pedro Martinez February 27, 2012: Bret Saberhagen
When the Mets acquired Mike Piazza from the Florida Marlins in 1998, the writing was on the wall for Todd Hundley. Hundley was one of only two Mets left on the team who had played for Davey Johnson (John Franco was the other), but had spent the first three months of the 1998 season on the disabled list while recovering from major reconstructive surgery on his right elbow. Needless to say, Hundley was not happy that the Mets were giving up on him, especially after he had given the team his best two seasons in 1996 and 1997.
Surprisingly, Hundley was not traded immediately upon his return from the DL in July. Instead, the Mets moved him to left field, displacing Bernard Gilkey, whose poor performance (.237, 3 HR, 24 RBI in 64 games at the time of Hundley's return) moved him to the bench and eventually to the Arizona Diamondbacks three weeks later. Despite the Mets' willingness to play Hundley, an outfield neophyte, on a regular basis, his performance at the plate suffered. Hundley finished the injury-shortened 1998 campaign with his poorest line (.161, 3 HR, 12 RBI in 53 games) since his first full season in the majors in 1992.
Finally, after months of speculation, the Mets traded Hundley to the Los Angeles Dodgers for two players. One of the players was All-Star catcher Charles Johnson, who was immediately shipped off to Baltimore for reliever Armando Benitez. The other was a 24-year-old utility outfielder who had played parts of four seasons in Los Angeles, never establishing himself as a full-time player. But once he came over to the Mets, his game took off (literally) and he became a key contributor on a team that was trying to make its first postseason appearance in 11 years. That player was Roger Cedeño.
Before Jose Reyes wowed Mets fans with his speed, there was Roger Cedeño.
Roger Leandro Cedeño had never accumulated more than 240 at-bats in any of his four seasons as a Dodger. He also had never shown the ability to be a prolific base stealer in the major leagues. In 311 games with the Dodgers, Cedeño stole 23 bases, with a career-high of nine of 1997. However, he was a base-stealing threat in the minors, as evidenced by his 121 stolen bases from 1992-1995.
At the time of the trade, it was assumed that Cedeño would not be the answer to the team's leadoff hitter conundrum. His career on-base percentage was .317 and he was not a good contact hitter, striking out 158 times in 687 at-bats with the Dodgers. Therefore, it was not a surprise when the Mets used him primarily as a pinch-hitter and late-inning defensive replacement over the first month of the season. But that all started to change once May rolled around.
From Opening Day to May 2, Roger Cedeño played in 24 games. However, he only started nine of those games, as he appeared in eight games as a pinch-hitter, two games as a pinch-runner and five games as a defensive replacement. As a result, he didn't get much of an opportunity to establish himself as an offensive threat. Through May 2, Cedeño was hitting .289 with five stolen bases, but had only picked up 45 at-bats. Then came a rare start on May 3 against the Houston Astros. It was a night that turned Cedeño's season around.
Given the opportunity to start a game, Roger Cedeño took full advantage. Against the Astros, Cedeño went 2-for-4 with a walk, two runs scored and two stolen bases. He got things started with a leadoff single to center in the first inning, then promptly stole second base. He took third base on a weak groundout to third, then scored on an RBI single by Mike Piazza. The Mets batted around in that first inning, scoring four times.
By the sixth inning, the Astros had cut the lead to one, as Richard Hidalgo's two-run homer had turned an early 4-0 lead into a tight 4-3 game. Once again, a rally started by Roger Cedeño gave the Mets some breathing room. With one out in the sixth, Cedeño doubled to left, then stole third base, giving Edgardo Alfonzo the opportunity to drive in a run without getting a hit, which he promptly did by lifting a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Cedeño and giving the Mets an insurance run. The bullpen did the rest, and the Mets held on for a 5-3 victory.
The game against the Astros began a stretch in which Cedeño started 10 times in 12 games. Given his first chance as an everyday player, Cedeño went on a blistering tear, batting .400 and reaching base 27 times (18 hits, nine walks) in those 12 games. On May 12, Cedeño went 4-for-4 with a walk, three runs scored and a stolen base against the Phillies. He followed that up two days later by picking up two more hits, scoring three runs and tying a franchise record with four stolen bases against the Rockies. Naturally, both efforts led the Mets to victories in each game.
Despite a brilliant first half in which hit .332, had a .432 on-base percentage, scored 53 runs and led the league with 46 steals, Cedeño was left off the National League All-Star roster. Perhaps feeding off his snub, Cedeño continued to excel after the break. In his first two games following the Midsummer Classic, Cedeño went 4-for-9 with two doubles, three runs scored, three RBIs and four stolen bases. The four steals gave him 50 thefts on the year, making him the third Met to reach that mark after Mookie Wilson (1982, 1983) and Lance Johnson (1996).
Mets fans saw this quite often in 1999, as Roger Cedeño was the master of his stolen base domain.
Cedeño tied Mookie Wilson's club record for steals when he stole his 58th base on August 10 against Padres' reliever Donne Wall. He then waited nearly three weeks to break Mookie's mark, but when he did it, he made sure it occurred in a game Mets fans would never forget.
On August 30, the Mets were leading the Astros, 2-0 in the second inning when Cedeño stepped up to the plate after a home run by Darryl Hamilton. Cedeño followed Hamilton's homer with a single up the middle. After a strikeout by Rey Ordoñez and a sacrifice bunt by Masato Yoshii, Cedeño stole third base, breaking Mookie Wilson's club record. The stolen base rattled Astros' starter Shane Reynolds, as he proceeded to give up an RBI single to Rickey Henderson, a single to Edgardo Alfonzo, a two-run double to Robin Ventura and a two-run homer to Mike Piazza. By the time the inning was over, the Mets had taken a 7-0 lead and the onslaught was on. The Mets went on to defeat the Astros, 17-1, but the lead story was no longer Cedeño breaking Mookie Wilson's single-season stolen base record, but Edgardo Alfonzo's one-for-the-ages performance, as Fonzie went 6-for-6 with three home runs, a double, two singles, six runs scored and five RBIs.
A week after breaking the stolen base record, Cedeño's batting average had fallen to .306, threatening to dip below the .300 mark for the first time since the day after he became an everyday player in early May. But then Cedeño turned it up a notch for the stretch run, hitting .359 over the team's final 22 games. He also reached base at a .431 clip, scored 13 runs and stole six bases as the Mets clinched the wild card berth in a one-game playoff against the Cincinnati Reds. It was on to the playoffs for the Mets and Cedeño's first postseason experience was one both he and the Mets would always remember.
After starting 106 of the team's final 138 games, Roger Cedeño only started one game in the NLDS against the Arizona Diamondbacks. But in Game 4, Cedeño kept the Mets' hopes alive with a crucial at-bat. After the Mets had fallen behind on a two-out, two-run double by Arizona shortstop Jay Bell in the top of the eighth inning, the Mets were six outs away from having to go back to the desert to face eventual Cy Young Award winner Randy Johnson in a fifth and deciding game. But an error by rightfielder Tony Womack gave the Mets hope and put two runners in scoring position for Cedeño, who had entered the game one inning earlier as a defensive replacement for Benny Agbayani. Cedeño came through in the clutch, driving in the tying run with a sacrifice fly. With the new life afforded to them via the bat of Roger Cedeño, the Mets were able to win the game and the series when Todd Pratt hit a walk-off homer to straightaway center over the not-completely outstretched glove of Steve Finley in the bottom of the tenth inning.
Cedeño and the Mets were now off to the National League Championship Series to face their division rivals in Atlanta. This time, manager Bobby Valentine made sure to get him more playing time. Cedeño made sure to save the best for last.
The Mets lost the first three games of the NLCS to the Braves, even with Cedeño hitting .429 over the first two games (he did not play in Game 3). Just like they did in Game 4 of the NLDS, the Mets let a one-run eighth inning lead slip away in Game 4 of the NLCS, as Brian Jordan and Ryan Klesko hit back-to-back home runs off Mets' starter Rick Reed after Reed had faced the minimum 21 batters through the first seven innings.
With the Mets six outs away from elimination, Roger Cedeño led off the bottom of the eighth with a single off Braves' starter John Smoltz. After Rey Ordoñez popped out on a failed bunt attempt and Benny Agbayani struck out against reliever Mike Remlinger, the Mets were only four outs away from ending their season prematurely. But Cedeño wasn't about to let the season end without a fight, as he stole second base to put the tying run in scoring position. Needing to pitch more carefully, Remlinger walked Melvin Mora, putting the go-ahead run on base and setting the stage for volatile closer John Rocker to come into the game to face John Olerud. In an instant, Cedeño and Mora pulled off a daring double steal, putting two runners in scoring position for the Mets' first baseman. Olerud then stroked a single to center, giving the Mets a lead they would not relinquish, a lead made possible by the bat and legs of Roger Cedeño.
As Roger Cedeño and Melvin Mora celebrated scoring the tying and go-ahead runs behind him, John Rocker was left to ponder what time he could catch the 7 train out of Shea.
The Mets and Braves battled for 15 innings in Game 5. Although Cedeño didn't play in the first 14 innings, he did find himself in the right spot at the right time, coming into the game as a pinch-runner for Matt Franco in the 15th. Cedeño ended up scoring the winning run on Robin Ventura's Grand Slam Single, the only run the Mets needed to take a 4-3 victory over the Braves.
Unfortunately, Cedeño's season ended earlier than it did for his teammates, as he was pulled for a pinch-hitter in the sixth inning of Game 6, as the Mets were rallying from an early five-run deficit. The Mets had already scored three runs in the sixth and had the tying run at the plate in Cedeño when Bobby Valentine decided to go with a power threat in Benny Agbayani. The Mets failed to tie the game in the sixth inning and Cedeño was out of the game, five innings before the Mets' season ended when Kenny Rogers gambled and threw ball four to Andruw Jones in the 11th inning. Who knows if Cedeño would have provided the Mets with a key hit or stolen base in extra innings had he remained in the game?
Despite the disappointing end to the 1999 season, Cedeño had sparkled in the postseason. Although he started only five games against the Diamondbacks and Braves, the speedster batted .421, scored three runs, drove in three more and stole three bases. Cedeño had just completed a memorable season, one in which he finally established himself as an everyday player in the major leagues. His fabulous postseason followed a regular season in which he hit .313, scored 90 runs and stole a franchise-record 66 bases. So what did the Mets do to reward him for his efforts? They traded him.
After one season in New York, the Mets dealt Roger Cedeño, Octavio Dotel (who was the winning pitcher in Game 5 of the NLCS) and minor leaguer Kyle Kessel to Houston in exchange for 22-game winner Mike Hampton and rightfielder Derek Bell. Both Hampton and Bell were one-and-done in New York, as Hampton signed an eight-year free agent contract with the Colorado Rockies following the 2000 season and Bell inked a one-year deal with Pittsburgh.
Cedeño played one injury-plagued season in Houston, batting .282 with 54 runs scored and 25 stolen bases in 74 games before signing a one-year contract to play in Detroit in 2001. He returned to his past glory in the Motor City, hitting .293 with a career-high 11 triples and 55 stolen bases in 131 games. Once again, Cedeño was a free agent following the 2001 campaign and the Mets were looking for a speedster. This time, however, it was a match that should never have been made.
On December 17, 2001, the Mets signed Roger Cedeño to a four-year, $18 million contract. However, Cedeño showed up at training camp overweight and out of baseball shape, and it showed during the regular season. In his first year back with the Mets, Cedeño batted .260, had a .318 on-base percentage and only stole 25 bases. Going into the 2003 season, the Mets were hoping that Cedeño could return to his 1999 self. Instead, they got more of the 2002 version, as Cedeño batted .267 and reached base at a .320 clip. However, his stolen bases dropped to 14 despite playing in 148 games and his 60.9% success rate was also the worst of his nine-year career.
Those orange batting practice jerseys weren't very slimming, nor did they help Roger Cedeño recapture the form he once showed for the Mets in 1999.
Finally, after two years of high expectations and an endless stream of boos from the Shea faithful, Cedeño was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals in 2004 for Wilson Delgado. The Mets did agree to pay all but $1 million of the remaining $10 million left on Cedeño's contract, but they were finally rid of him.
Roger Cedeño came to New York in 1999 after never establishing himself in Los Angeles. He then put together one of the most unexpected seasons in club annals, helping the Mets reach the playoffs for the first time in 11 years. Almost as quickly as he got here, Cedeño was gone, traded to Houston for a pitcher who helped the team make it back to the postseason in 2000. However, despite his comeback season in Detroit in 2001, Cedeño was never as good as he was for that one wonderful season in 1999. The Mets made the mistake to re-sign him following the 2001 season and the team suffered in the standings, finishing in last place in both years of Cedeño's second stint in New York.
Sometimes it's best to quit when one is ahead. The Mets and Roger Cedeño were ahead of everyone but the Braves in 1999. Three years later, both parties were behind everyone in the NL East. It just goes to show that sometimes a one-season wonder should stop after that one wonderful season.
Note: One Season Wonders is a
thirteen-part weekly series spotlighting those Mets who had one and only one memorable season in New York. For previous
installments, please click on the players' names below: January 2, 2012: Bernard Gilkey January 9, 2012: Terry Leach January 16, 2012: George Stone
Todd Pratt
Ramon Castro
